1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to bread makers, and more particularly to a bread maker, which is equipped with a bar code scanner having an improved construction to correctly read a bar code attached to a mixing bag made of an elastic material.
2. Description of the Related Art
A bread maker is an apparatus that makes bread using a mixing bag containing bread ingredients. The bread maker automatically makes a variety of breads depending on types of bread ingredients.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing an appearance of a conventional bread maker. As shown, the conventional bread maker includes a housing 1 to define the appearance of the bread maker and a door 2 mounted in front of the housing 1 to be selectively opened and closed. A display 3 is formed on front of the housing 1 to visually provide information to a user. Other parts used to make bread are mounted in the housing 1. A window 4 is formed in the door 2 to allow the user to see through the housing 1.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing an internal structure of the conventional bread maker, which constitutes a bread making construction inside of the housing 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the internal structure of the bread maker includes a pair of frames 5 that are spaced apart from each other and oppositely arranged. A baking tray 6, upper and lower rollers 7 and 8, and a scraper 9 are interposed between the frames 5. Additionally, a pair of heaters 11 are mounted on an inner surface of the door 2 to bake bread ingredients in a form of dough with appropriately supplied heat.
The baking tray 6 forms a bread making space to accommodate a mixing bag 20 (see FIG. 2). The upper and lower rollers 7 and 8, respectively, hold the upper and lower ends of the mixing bag 20 to allow the mixing bag 20 to be raised and lowered so as to mix the bread ingredients and form dough. In order to help the upper and lower rollers 7 and 8 hold the mixing bag 20, a plurality of fixing protrusions 10 are formed on each of the upper and lower rollers 7 and 8.
A slit 9a is formed in a center of the scraper 9 so as to allow an upper portion of the mixing bag 20 to pass therethrough. Accordingly, when the mixing bag 20 is upwardly moved by a rotation of the upper and lower rollers 7 and 8, respectively, the mixing bag 20 is allowed to pass through the slit 9a but the bread ingredients are scraped downward so that they do not move upward. A slit 6a (see FIG. 4) having the same function as that of the slit 9a is formed in a center of the baking tray 6. Accordingly, when the mixing bag 20 is downwardly moved by the rotation of the upper and lower rollers 7 and 8, the mixing bag 20 is allowed to pass through the slit 6a but the bread ingredients are not allowed to move downward and remain in the baking tray 6 to form dough.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the mixing bag 20 to be accommodated in the baking tray 6. As shown in FIG. 3, the mixing bag 20 is made of an elastic material, such as vinyl. Dry bread ingredients 21 are contained in the mixing bag 20. An inner bag 22 containing baking liquid is disposed in the mixing bag 20 to be mixed with the dry bread ingredients 21 to form dough. The dry bread ingredients 21 include grain powder, such as wheat flour, that is a principle material of bread. The inner bag 22 is ruptured when the mixing bag 20 is passed through the slit 9a (see FIG. 2) of the scraper 9, so that the baking liquid is mixed with the dry bread ingredients 21.
A plurality of fixing holes 23 are formed in the upper and lower portions of the mixing bag 20 to receive the fixing protrusions 10, thereby allowing the mixing bag 20 to be held by the upper and lower rollers 7 and 8, respectively Additionally, a bar code 24 is attached to the mixing bag 20. The bar code 24 provides bread making information including material mixing time, roller rotating speed, leavening time and temperature, baking time and temperature, etc.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a state in which the bar code 24 is read by the conventional bar code scanner 25 while the mixing bag 20 is held by the upper and lower rollers 7 and 8. As shown in FIG. 4, the mixing bag 20 is tightly held in such a way that the dry bread ingredients 21 contained in the mixing bag 20 are positioned in the baking tray 6, the upper and lower portions of the mixing bag 20 are passed through the slit 9a of the scraper 9 and the slit 6a of the baking tray 6, respectively, and the fixing holes 23 formed in the mixing bag 20 are fitted on the fixing projections 10 formed on the upper and lower rollers 7 and 8.
A conventional bar code scanner 25 configured to read the bar code 24 attached to the mixing bag 20 is positioned to be opposite to the upper roller 7 and spaced apart from the mixing bag 20 by a certain distance so as to face the bar code 24 attached to the mixing bag 20. Accordingly, before bread making starts, the bar code scanner 25 is activated and reads the bar code 24 attached to the mixing bag 20. That is, when the upper and lower rollers 7 and 8 are slowly rotated in a forward direction (in FIG. 4, in a clockwise direction), the upper portion of the mixing bag 20 is wound around the upper roller 7, and the bar code 24 attached to a surface of the mixing bag 20 is passed through the bar code scanner 25. Here, the bar code scanner 25 reads bread making information from the bar code 24.
Thereafter, according to the bread making information read by the bar code scanner 25, the upper and lower rollers 7 and 8 are rotated alternately in forward and reverse directions to form dough. The heaters 11 mounted on the internal surface of the door 2 are operated to bake the dough disposed on the baking tray 6.
However, in the conventional bread maker, the conventional bar code scanner 25 reads the bar code 24 in a non-contact way while being spaced apart from the bar code 24. Additionally, the bar code 24 is attached to the mixing bag 20 made of an elastic material. Thus, the mixing bag 20 is not flat but wrinkled when being upwardly moved by the rotation of the upper roller, thereby hindering the bar code scanner 25 from correctly reading the bar code 24. As a result, bread making is not correctly performed due to an inaccurate reading of the bar code 24, thus reducing reliability of the bread maker.
In addition, a non-contact type bar code scanner, which reads a bar code while being spaced apart from the bar code by a certain distance, requires a high manufacturing cost in comparison with a contact type bar code scanner, thus reducing a competitive power of products by employing such non-contact type bar code scanners.